Valley Of The Birds
by MarqueeMoonGirl
Summary: During the two years she spent in Hades, Noodle was left an empty shell of what she once was. Rescued and brought back to Kong by Murdoc, they struggle together to fix the physical and emotional damage done to her. IN PROGRESS - ON HIATUS
1. The Wasteland

_Valley of the Birds_

_by MarqueeMoonGirl_

part ONE : The Wasteland

_---_

She was almost unrecognizable.

Her hair was tangled, cropped close to her head in uneven patches, like it had had been torn out in chunks. When he had spotted her, her clothing had been in shreds, barely keeping her covered. She had grown terribly thin, her already skinny arms and legs looking almost skeletal despite a substantial growth spurt. Her lean body had dozens of bloody gashes and dark purple bruises all over, staining what was left of her clothes. At the moment, she was struggling against a small demon trying to gnaw at her bare toes. Normally she'd be able to fight something as small as the little red demon with ease, but she looked so weary…

And she looked more like a feral animal then the young guitarist who had been stolen away underneath his own nose.

But her eyes were still the same bright green as they'd always been, and her skin had the healthy flush of the living and not the pallid grey of the condemned souls around her. It was obvious she didn't belong here.

One of the demon's hooked claws lanced through her skin. Noodle's cry of pain wasn't loud, but he still heard her voice over the screaming of the damned.

With a snarl, Murdoc clamored over the shiny volcanic rock and yanked the demon away from Noodle by the scruff of its neck. The small demon then found itself sailing through the air. It began to shriek before being swallowed with a hiss by a swelling pool of red-hot magma.

Noodle curled against the rock behind her, her face turned away from him. Her chest heaved up and down quickly, and she clawed at the glossy black stone futilely in an attempt to get away.

He didn't have the time to be delicate. This had to be a quick in-and-out maneuver, otherwise both of them would be trapped here forever.

Yanking one of her thin arms, he spun her around to face him. She whimpered and turned her head away again, struggling weakly against his grip. Much weaker then he'd even seen her before. "Noodle!" he shouted sharply. "For the love of Satan, knock that off!"

For a moment, she still attempted to feebly free herself. Then her head snapped back towards him, and wide green eyes stared up at him. "Murdoc?" Her voice sounded faint, as if she didn't believe that he was in front of her.

""ey, love." He quickly loosened the skull clasp on his cape, throwing the cloak over her bare shoulders. "Hope you don't mind a hasty exit."

Pulling on the purple velvet, she shook her head.

"Good." He started to run, half dragging Noodle behind him.

For a few moments, Murdoc thought that this had gone far smoother then he'd expected it would. Then the rock underneath his feet began to rumble and splinter. With a tremendous crack, suddenly there was nothing at all beneath them except magma several stories below them. They began to fall together, tumbling closer to the bubbling lake of magma. Digging her head into his chest, Noodle sobbed quietly. He embraced her protectively.

People faced with the prospect of impending death often say that they saw their life flash before their eyes if they were fortunate enough to survive. For Murdoc, it wasn't quite like that.

'_What is there to mind about? It's a dream come true. I've got three big brothers - one who smells like butterscotch, one who smells like box-fresh trainers, and the other one that smells like halitosis on toast__._'

'_Listen, no one looks up to a man who's down. I know it's cool to be depressed and all that but please don't share it with the rest of the class. Bottle it up.'_

'_I wouldn't sing with Murdoc because he never brushes his teeth and makes the microphone all smelly!'_

'_There's no point walking around with a face like a smacked arse. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and you're on your own, you miserable little bugger. So even if you're a sensitive little tosser, make out you're happy because no one gives a shit._'

He was brought back to his imminent death by Noodle's grip on his chest tightening. For a fleeting moment, he saw her look up at him, her hair flying up, away from her face, her green eyes half closed. Then she kissed him, brushing lightly against his dry lips.

And almost as quickly as he realized Noodle was kissing him, something tore her frail body away from him, something large and scaly and an angry dark red color. It flew off with Noodle clutched in its front talons.

Murdoc's face was sideswiped by the demon's curving tail, and his world was a burst of pain for a moment. In his stupor, he still managed to latch onto it despite the demon's sharp scales digging into his face and arms.

He snarled in frustration. Attached to his belt was a small silver knife, but he had no way of getting to it without letting go. He began to claw at the scales with his fingernails, and they began to flake off like a snake's skin. He was lucky; this demon was close to molting its old skin. Underneath the shedding, its red skin was textured like pebbles, with no sharp scales. Baring his teeth, Murdoc bit into the skin as hard as he could.

The fifty-foot demon roared and convulsed in the air. The tail flailed around like mad, whipping Murdoc around like a toy top. He barely managed to keep his grip on the demon, thinking perhaps that hadn't been the smartest idea he'd ever had.

Slowly, he began to inch his way up the length of the tail. The scales bit against the skin of his palms, but he ignored it and the trickle of blood trailing down his arm. Once he'd reached the base of the tail, he climbed onto the demon's body, hanging on with one hand should the demon decide to do a barrel-roll again while the other drew the knife from his belt.

In the burning red inferno of Hell, the polished blade of the knife somehow managed to shine brilliant silver, like a beam of moonlight on a clear night. Inscribed on the knife were several twisting symbols he couldn't understand. The historian who'd shown it to Murdoc before he'd stolen it had only said it was supposedly a holy relic left over from some ancient battle.

_'It was said that it would only aid a solider that fought against pure evil itself. Otherwise it would just be an ordinary knife.'_

Squatting between the demon's large wings, Murdoc brought the knife down through the monster's heart, the blade scorching the demon's hide as the weapon sunk deeper and deeper, the blade coated with the demon's greasy dark blood.

_'But against the right enemies, it would prove to be a very devastating weapon.'_

The demon shrieked in agony, its wings going limp. Sinking like a stone, it flopped over onto an outcropping of volcanic rock. A small puff of smoke issued from the demon's mouth before its head lolled backwards as death claimed it.

Murdoc found himself pinned underneath the gigantic carcass, the holy knife embedded deep inside the demon's body. "Shit," he grunted, trying to wriggle out from under the weight of the body. Clawing his way through, he yanked the knife back out, stumbling around the body to look at its belly.

Noodle laid unconscious across the demon's talon, still wrapped in Murdoc's purple cape. Stuffing the knife back into the sheath, he darted to her, prying her out of the talons.

The cape had been shredded by the sharp talons of the demon. On first glance it looked like the demon hadn't inflicted any new wounds on Noodle, but her breathing was shallow and much too fast to be normal. There also seemed to be a faint green shine to her face he hadn't seen before.

Murdoc ran a fingernail down the black curved claw that had held Noodle. He scrapped off a thin coat of green venom that burned the tip of his finger. He quickly wiped it against the dead demon's muzzle. "Stupid fucking git." The demon had poisonous claws. Externally, it did nothing but seriously irritate the skin, but if it had entered Noodle's bloodstream through one of her wounds, she would be dead within the day.

Gathering the unconscious girl in his arms, he sprinted away from the dead demon, before the other demons of Hell could figure out what was going on.

He dashed over rocks, leapt over trickles of magma, barely keeping ahead of a herd of demons, until he was almost in front of towering iron gates. The Gates of Hell were supposed to let the damned in but keep them from getting out – a duty that traditionally had belonged to a nasty three-headed dog, but rumor had it Satan had relocated Cerberus directly outside his main office after one too many Greek heroes had put the guard dog to sleep with a song.

Sure enough, the rusted gates began to swing shut. Murdoc quickly pulled out the knife again, the mirrored blade shining like a beacon.

The gates halted, allowing Murdoc, Noodle and the holy knife to pass through the gates. The gates then slammed shut with a loud clang in front of the howling demons' muzzles.

A skeleton man, shrouded in a dark cloak, stood on the banks of the river Styx, a wooden boat bobbing up and down next to him in the dark water. In one hand he held a long wooden pole, the other was held out towards Murdoc.

Quickly, Murdoc put the knife away and felt into the pocket of his jeans. Pulling out two shiny silver coins, he placed them in the bones that made up the ferryman's hand and boarded the boat, carrying Noodle's limp body in his arms.

Charon silently climbed onto the helm of the boat, pushing off from the shore using the pole. The wooden skiff glided across the black water with surprising speed, heading back towards the land of the living.

_---_

_Everything is white._

_Did I finally die? Am I dead? _

_No. No, wait. My arm's hurting something awful. That probably wouldn't hurt if I were dead. _

_And Murdoc-san was there. He was trying to rescue me. I kissed him when we were falling, and then something hit me, and then…I don't remember._

_I just feel so…_

_---_

Murdoc dunked the knife into water, scrubbing at the blade with a scouring pad furiously. Behind him, Noodle was laid out on top of the kitchen table, his cloak pulled up to her chest. He was muttering to himself under his breath, mainly a string of imaginative swears and occasionally 'this better work'.

Pulling the knife out of the water, he carefully felt along the engraving on the blade. He held the knife above his open palm, collecting the drips of water that ran down along the blade's edge in his palm. Setting the knife down on the counter, he looked for a relatively fresh wound on Noodle, finding a scratch on her neck that still looked open. Slowly, so to not carelessly spill a drop, he rubbed the water into the bleeding cut.

She stirred slightly, the green cast gone from her face. That was enough to quiet most of Murdoc's fears. "Noods."

"….tired." she said quietly, opening her eyes a sliver. "Murdoc."

He grinned, his sharpened teeth visible for a moment. "Noodle."

She didn't seem to hear him. "I tried to escape. I couldn't. You left me down there so long," Noodle whispered hoarsely. "Didn't know if you would ever come. Hopeless. It hurt."

Murdoc felt himself wince. "It took longer then I expected to find the right weapons, find a way in that wouldn't get me stuck down there with you, love. Then 2D would have to try to spring us and we both know that wouldn't turn out too well. That dullard would probably offer Satan bus token in exchange for our souls or something."

Noodle smiled slightly. "I'm happy to see you, Mur…" she sighed, her words trailing off as she fell asleep.

Murdoc stood next to the table for several minutes, watching her sleep. "Me too, poppet."

END : part ONE

MarqueeMoonGirl SEZ: This has been floating around in my brain ever since Murdoc announced Noodle was in Hell and he was going to rescue her. So…roughly a year.

I was hesitant to write it down at first because I had finished 'Man Out of Time' a few months before and didn't want to dive right back into Gorillaz going to Hell. This story is NOT a prequel/sequel to 'Man Out Of Time', although I did drop a few references to the Hell in that story here.

Oh, and 'Instant Tunes' is on indefinite hiatus until I can think of something interesting to put next.


	2. Taken Chances

_Valley of the Birds_

_by MarqueeMoonGirl_

part TWO : Taken Chances

---

"She's not going to go for it."

"Mr. Niccals, I already told you that she'll need help, and we have the best staff at his hospital to help her readjust after her…" He flipped the pages on the clipboard. "Kidnapping."

"And I tell you again, she's not going to go for it at all. And if I don't think she needs it and if she doesn't want to go, I'm not going to commit her."

The psychologist paused. "We can have her stay involuntarily, if we believe that she's a danger to herself and others. It just requires a form and a court order."

Murdoc glowered, staring at the psychologist's colorless face. "Is that right?" he said dangerously quiet. "Do you think she's dangerous?"

Squirming under Murdoc's angry gaze, the psychologist nervously looked down at his clipboard again. "At the present time, no. But she would benefit greatly from our help."

Murdoc steepled his long fingers, his mismatched eyes never leaving the psychologist face. "Then stop threatening me," he growled. "I brought her in to this hospital so her injuries could be taken care of. I did not expect to have to sign her over to the fuckin' loony bin as soon as we walked through the fuckin' door."

"But Mr. Niccals, please," begged the psychologist, "It's for her own good."

"No, it's not. She went through Hell for the last two years. The last bloody thing she needs right now is to be locked up again."

---

After six hours of waiting, it was around three AM when the procession of doctors let him see Noodle. Visiting hours had ended long ago, but the staff had allowed him to stay. It was close to five AM now. He'd spent the last two hours sitting in her hospital room, the beige curtain surrounded the large bed pulled shut for privacy from her sleeping roommate, a thin elderly man. He sat on the edge of the plastic seatwith his arms against the steel bedrails, staring down at her.

Wires and tubes leading to machines surrounded Noodle's thin frame. The doctors had her sedated into sleep, with an IV tube in her other arm slowly correcting the dehydration she'd suffered. Her right arm was in a plaster cast, kept elevated from the rest of her body. The larger cuts on her now had dark red stitches joining the bloody skin together while the smaller ones were covered with bandages. The nurses had tried to wash the blood and dirt off of her and only partially succeeded; the red blotches still staining her limbs and face. The patches of purple hair fanned around her head on the pillow like a jagged, tangled halo.

She looked much worse then 2D had after his accident with Murdoc's car, and he'd looked like someone had fed him through a wood chipper for at least six months after that. But he hadn't felt so guilty then, even though he had been the one to inflict the injuries on 2D with his car.

2D was the dullard, after all. This was Noodle.

"Too close, that was too close," he muttered to himself. How Noodle had been able to hold up for so long was anyone's guess. Well, that wasn't quite true. She was Noodle, a trained super-solider and resilient fighter, easily able to dispatch zombies and other monsters with a jab to the neck. She knew how to survive. But struggling to survive in the worst circumstances conceivable for two years…

A shudder ran through Murdoc's body. _'It could've been you, you know,' _a small voice in the back of his head whispered._ 'If the demons had found you first instead of her, like they were supposed to. You wouldn't have lasted a day in there.'_

Murdoc laid a hand across Noodle's delicate hand and squeezed.

"God, Noodle, how did you do it?" He breathed.

Noodle stirred in her sleep slightly, then turned her head away from Murdoc.

Murdoc blinked slowly, the strain of everything that had happened that day beginning to catch up with him. His head slowly lowered down to his chest. Several hours later, the nurse making morning rounds found him asleep in the chair next to the hospital bed, Noodle's hand still clasped tightly underneath his own.

---

Holding his cell phone, Murdoc stood in the hallway next to a window overlooking the parking lot. The Geep was still parked in front of the hospital. Parked was the wrong word to use. Three wheels were up on the sidewalk in front of the double doors to the emergency room, black tire tracks on the pavement marking where the vehicle had begin to skid to a halt. Despite a parade of hospital administartors asking him to move it while he'd been waiting to see Noodle, he hadn't bothered to.

He pushed send, hearing the tones as the number was automatically dialed. The phone rang twice.

"Hello?" A groggy voice asked. "Who is this and why you callin' at three in the morning?"

It was still nighttime on the East Coast, and Russel sounded quite tired. "Russ, it's me."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. "Muds?"

"Yeah." Murdoc turned towards back towards the door of Noodle's room for a second as a pair of doctors walked in. "I've got her."

There was no need to explain who he meant.

"How's she doing?" Russel said quickly, emotions he hadn't allowed to come out suddenly forcing their way free. "Is she all right?"

"About as well as you'd expect someone who spent two years in Hell to be doing. Good news is, she'll live. Listen, when's the earliest you can fly out here? She'll be comin' around soon and I think she needs to see all three of us."

Russel sighed. "I'm stuck stateside for a while, Muds. My visa was stolen. I've already applied for a replacement but it's still gonna take about five weeks to arrive."

Murdoc frowned. "Did they give you an exact date?"

"They said it varies." Russel paused. "Man, I'm sorry. I'd love to see Noodle again. Will you and 2D be OK without me?"

Murdoc laughed flatly. "It's just going to be me, I'm afraid. I can't get a hold of 2D. I keep getting a message saying his mobile's been disconnected. Probably forgot to pay the bill, little dumbshit. This is probably the only time in my life I'd actually _want_ to contact him and his bloody phone's been shut off!"

Russel let out a long slow breath of air. "That blows, man. Are you going to be all right by yourself then?"

Murdoc paused, mulling the question over in his head. "I don't know," he said honestly. "I thought getting her out would be the hard part, but now, after all that's happened, I…" He grimaced.

There was a long silence, so long that Murdoc began to wonder if the transatlantic call had been cut off before Russel began to speak again."…I'm not going to say that you're completely innocent in this mess, Murdoc," Russel's raspy voice said. "But you risked your own life getting her out of Hell and for that, I'm glad, mainly because Noodle's back home now. But," Russel chuckled slightly, "This also proves you're not quite the selfish bastard I had you pegged for."

"Oh, please. I'm still a egocentric bastard, believe me," Murdoc said. "I don't intend to make sacrificial rescues from Hell a regular occurrence."

"Wouldn't expect anything less of you, Muds. When she's up, tell Noodle I send her my love and wish I could be there."

"Will do. Bye Russ."

"'Night Muds." The line went dead.

Murdoc shoved the Motorola phone back into the pocket of his jeans, walking back towards the room, looking down at the pale tile of the floor.

Noodle was sitting up in the bed, her green eyes glassy but open as the doctor stuck yet another needle in her arm. Her face didn't register pain or recognition as Murdoc approached the chair and sat down.

"Noods?"

She turned towards Murdoc, a blank expression on her battered face. The question he'd been about to ask fell silent on his tongue. Noodle was always been so cheerful and full of life. Suddenly, that was what frightened him the most. The cuts would mend, the bruises fade. What if she was like this forever? What if the damage inside would be impossible to heal?

He recovered quickly. "How do ya feel, love?" He asked, giving her a smile he meant to look reassuring.

Noodle looked at him with that disconcerting expression, all joy and laughter gone from her face. "Empty."

END: part TWO


	3. A Thousand Times

_Valley of the Birds_

_by MarqueeMoonGirl_

part THREE : A Thousand Times

---

Over the next two weeks, Murdoc tried to visit Noodle in the hospital as often as he could. As her body slowly began to heal from the ordeal, she began to talk more, but the light in her eyes seemed to have been permanently snuffed out. It was probably the painkillers dulling her senses. At least, that's what he hoped. He could see that Noodle was anxious to leave the hospital, but the doctors didn't think she was in any condition to go home.

For right now, that was fine with Murdoc. For one thing, 'home' was currently Kong Studios, the haunted studio with a gateway to Hell in the basement and demons crawling all over the foyer. He had tried to drive the demons out, but he would've needed an army of priests and a tanker full of holy water to even get half of them out. Kong was also where the demons had taken her from her bedroom and dragged her down into the Hellhole two years ago. He couldn't bring her back there. Even if he did somehow banish all demons from Kong, Noodle would always be looking over her shoulder to make sure no demons were waiting for her. She might still do that any place he brought her, but bringing her back to Kong after all that had happened there almost seemed like asking her to have a nervous breakdown.

So he had to find somewhere else to bring her when she was eventually released. Looking in the newspaper soon after Noodle had been brought to the hospital, he had found a small house for sale on Leigh-on-Sea, and had called up the owner offering to buy it, sight unseen, for the full price. His second call was to the band's attorney, to draw up the paperwork necessary to close on the house. For most people not in a world-famous band, it would take about two months for the bank to prepare a mortgage for them to purchase the house. For Murdoc, who actually was in a world-famous band, it was a little quicker then that. He went down to the house the next afternoon with his attorney, cash in hand, to close on the house. By dinnertime, the house was his.

He was pleasantly surprised to see what his cash had bought him. The main floor was large, with a kitchen, study, living room and six-seat home theater. The finished basement below was absolutely cavernous, with a fireplace and wooden bar, which Murdoc made arrangements to fill with alcohol as soon as possible. The second floor had four bedrooms and two bathrooms, enough to house the entire band if Russel and 2D were able to make it to Leigh-on-Sea.

Murdoc frowned. He'd tried to track down 2D using every option available to him, but it appeared that Stuart Pot had vanished off the face of the Earth without a trace. Even a call to 2D's parents didn't help; they hadn't seen him for over a year and were besides themselves with worry over their son. Paula Cracker was likewise in the dark, and his banking accounts hadn't been touched. He relayed this information to Russel one night in the hospital while Noodle slept.

"Hm. Send over what you've got and I'll try to find him. You just focus on getting Noodle better and the house ready, 'K?"

"All right, Russ."

It was fairly easy for him to move into the house, he simply drove his Winnebago out to Leigh-on-Sea and brought his belongings upstairs into the master bedroom. The exception was his smelly and rather moldy bed, which he threw out. A brand new king-sized bed was delivered to the house within a week, along with the rest of the furniture and appliances. He'd arranged for movers to take what 2D and Russel had left in Kong to be brought to the house as well. The empty Winnebago was now parked inside the house's garage next to the Geep.

Noodle's room and most of her belongings had been destroyed when the demons had kidnapped her. He had salvaged as much as he could from the ruins, but it wasn't much. Most of the things that he furnished her room in the house with were things that she'd owned when she had first come to the band that had been in storage for years. Murdoc picked a lanky plush doll from one of the boxes he'd picked up from the storage locker, the face mischievous. He set it on top of the white dresser that had been delivered to the house, next to a white dog stuffed animal. He'd bought several Japanese paper lanterns and strung them across the ceiling. Gently slumbering in the closet was Shaun Ryder's head and all of his necessary equipment, which had been a pain in the ass to transport from Kong to Leigh-on-Sea. The old clothes in the storage locker didn't have a chance of fitting the eighteen-year old now, so he'd had to guess her current size and what she might like, which had gotten him some odd looks in the trendy boutiques that Noodle had frequented. If they didn't fit or she absolutely hated them, she'd be able to pick out new ones once she was out of the hospital, but these would do for now. He placed Noodle's favorite guitar, the acoustic one she'd used for the 'Feel Good, Inc' track, in the corner. The new room wasn't nearly as large as her room in Kong had been, but it had a very cozy look to it that he hoped Noodle would like.

One morning, he came in to the hospital to find several doctors and nurses waiting for him, accompanied by a police officer. "Mr Niccals?"

Murdoc looked up from the visitor's sign-in sheet. "What?"

The older doctor looked uncomfortable. "Nurse Greyford went into Noodle's room around ten this morning and found the bed empty. We've looked throughout the entire hospital and we can't find her."

"You..._lost_ Noodle?" Murdoc frowned.

The doctor pulled a folded piece of paper from his white coat. "No, sir, I mean to say Noodle left from the hospital during the nurse's shift change around eight this morning. We looked at the security footage, " He gave the paper to Murdoc. "She left this on her bed. It's written in Japanese, and nobody on staff can read it. Can you?"

Murdoc stared at the _kanji_ written on the paper. He slowly shook his head as he handed it back to the doctor. "It all looks the same to me."

"Do you know where she might go, Mr Niccals?" said the police officer.

"Kong Studios in Essex," Murdoc lied. "It's the band's headquarters."

"Well, we have the police in the area looking for her. Hopefully they'll find her. Let us know if you see her," the doctor said.

Murdoc grinned. "I wouldn't worry about her. She has a way of turning up."

---

Walking out of the hospital's sliding doors, Murdoc was not particularly surprised to spot someone sitting in the Geep's passenger seat.

"Noods, there are easier ways to get out of hospitals besides going all '_Escape From Alcatraz_' on those poor saps," Murdoc said, leaning over the door.

Disguised in a heavy fur-lined coat with the hood pulled over her face, Noodle defiantly crossed her arms, or tried to. Her right arm was still in a sling. "I couldn't stay in that place another minute."

Murdoc sighed. "I know, Noods." He got into the driver's seat, but didn't start the vehicle. The bitter November winds whipped across his face and bare hands. "Do you think you're well enough to leave?"

Noodle nodded.

"All right." He got out of the Geep, opening her door. "C'mon Noods."

She looked up at him with a vaguely distrustful look. "Where are you taking me?"

"Back to the hospital so we can get you released from there properly. Then we're leaving."

---

The sun had set by the time Noodle and Murdoc walked out of the hospital again, after sorting out the mess dealing with Noodle's release. They climbed into the Geep silently, and drove off.

"Are we going to Kong?" Noodle asked quietly, dressed in some of the clothes Murdoc had purchased for her, black denim pants that were slightly too small and a blue and white diagonal-striped top. Her feet were just in socks, as the shoes Murdoc had bought for her were too small to wear.

Murdoc laughed. "No. You honestly think I'd take you straight back to the demons and the Hellhole after that? Noods, I just got you out of Hell. I don't want to spend another two years trying to get you back out of there again. I'm not as young as I used to be."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Noodle's tense frame relax very slightly. "So where are we going?"

"I didn't tell you?"

Noodle shook her head. "Not that I remember."

"I got a house on Leigh-on-Sea. I've spent all of my spare time since I brought you to the hospital getting it ready to move into."

"A house?" said Noodle. "You bought a house?"

"Yeah. Surprised?"

"A little. Are you still going to live in the Winnebago?"

Murdoc laughed again. "No, there's no way to hook it up to the electricity and water. I've got the master bedroom set up for me."

"And for me?" she said sadly.

Murdoc took a deep breath. "I found some of your old stuff in the storage locker Russ got us, and they're in your room. I brought everything I could find from your room at Kong, Noods, but it wasn't a lot."

"I see."

"But I think you'll like it. It's a nice enough house, and the view of the sea from this place is beautiful."

A small smile played on the edges of Noodle's mouth. "It sounds nice."

END : part THREE

MarqueeMoonGirl SEZ: Happy new year, everyone! Hope it was a good one.


	4. Say A Prayer

_Valley of the Birds_

_by MarqueeMoonGirl_

part FOUR : Say A Prayer

_---_

Murdoc helped Noodle up the cement steps to the house. A small grin barely visible on his face in the fading light, he opened the wooden door.

She looked around with wide eyes. The house was clean and cozy, the least likely place she could imagine Murdoc living. Above her head hung a cast-iron chandelier that illuminated the cool grey stones in the foyer. The rest of the floor was covered in a pale beige carpet that went from wall to wall. It wasn't dirty or stained or anything. The décor of what she could see of the living room was relatively plain as well; no demonic statues or weird plants or anything strange at all. The most unusual items were a couple abstract paintings hanging from the walls, and a large wooden hand sitting on the mantle over the fireplace.

For once, Noodle was never so glad to see a boring old living room.

"Do 'ya like, Noods?" Murdoc asked behind her.

Noodle turned around and nodded.

Murdoc's mouth pulled back into a smirk, and for the first time Noodle realized how drastically Murdoc had changed over the two years as well. His face looked more bony and gaunt, and the areas around his eyes and mouth looked oddly hollow and wrinkled. He looked like he'd aged a decade between now and when she'd seen him last at Kong, before she had been kidnapped.

Murdoc noticed that she was staring at his face in disbelief and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Embarrassed, Noodle looked down. Her face flushed bright red. "Nothing. It's just, you look…", she had to stop herself from saying 'old'. "…Different."

There were many possible responses, both sarcastic and contemplative, to what she'd said, but none seemed appropriate, so he remained silent. It was a struggle to keep his face impassive. The arrogant half of Murdoc was frustrated that she'd noticed his aging, although it was nothing he hadn't already observed himself in the mirror each morning. The two years he'd spent alternating between worrying about her and planning her rescue had not been easy on him, and it was true what he'd told her in the car, that he wasn't as young as he used to be. After a life of consuming enough alcohol and drugs to kill a forest's worth of small woodland animals several times over, it was probably a miracle that he wasn't dead himself. Only _looking_ like death warmed over was a small price to pay.

"I'm sorry," Noodle said suddenly, breaking the uncomfortable silence. She wasn't sure what she was sorry about, though. Was she sorry she hadn't been able to fight off the demons in the first place, or that she'd remarked on how he had aged noticeably?

"It's not your fault," Murdoc grumbled. He picked up the small bag Noodle had brought from the hospital.

Had he really changed that much in two years?

"Who are you and what have you done with the Murdoc Niccals I know?" She was only half-joking.

He glowered. "Ha ha, very funny Noodle. You wanna spend your first night here on the roof?"

Noodle gave a small smile. That sounded more like Murdoc, and she felt unbelievably relieved. Before she even realized what she was doing, she had her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, burying her head into his shoulder. The tears started rolling down her cheeks almost instantly.

Murdoc looked down at the crying teen, momentarily confused. "Um, moppet, I wasn't serious about that roof thing…"

"It's not that," sniffled Noodle, her voice muffled. "Honestly, I don't know why I'm crying. Maybe it's because it feels like almost everything's changed, that I've come back to a place I don't recognize anymore."

A wave of guilt hit Murdoc as he delicately placed a hand on top of Noodle's head. '_Poor Noods_.'

"But not everything's different," Noodle continued. "It's…nice to see you're still the same Murdoc, even if you look a little older..." Pulling away slightly, she looked up at his eyes.

Being this close to Murdoc brought back sudden flashes of their escape from Hell, falling towards a lake of magma, certain that a painful death was only moments away, looking at him and kissing his lips…

Noodle felt a sudden warmth in her cheeks. She could feel Murdoc's warm breath against her bare neck, the air between them was almost charged. She tilted her head upwards, peering through the remains of her fringe. Murdoc's face was nearly indecipherable, although there was a twinge of melancholy in his brown eyes.

Brown?

Noodle felt her mouth flap open as though she had no control over it. Sure enough, both of his eyes were a very dark shade of brown instead of just his right. She'd heard of eye color gradually changing in babies, but at middle age? She began to get very frightened, but couldn't put her finger on exactly why. What had happened to him?

"I-I'm tired," she stuttered. "Can I see my room, Murdoc?"

He nodded sharply, helping Noodle up the stairs. She peeked through the open door of what could only be Murdoc's room as they passed – she recognized the bear rug on the floor along with the various darts, knives, and other assorted oddities Murdoc liked to keep around. She could barely see Cortez hop up and down on a large pair of speakers. Squawking, the bird flew out of the room and down the hall, landing on Noodle's shoulder. Seeming to calm down, he nuzzled his small feathery head against her bandaged cheek.

"Are you glad to see me too?" she asked quietly. The bird bobbed up and down on her shoulder in response. It cawed again before flying over to Murdoc's arm.

At the very end of the hall was her room. Murdoc stood behind her as she lightly grasped the doorknob. She wasn't sure what would be on the other side. Murdoc's tastes in decorating usually ran headfirst into vulgar and tacky; anyone who had ever seen inside either of his Winnebagos could tell you that. While the rest of the house seemed to be relatively sane in its décor, there was no guarantee that her room would be tasteful. Even worse would be if he tried too hard to make it look Japanese without doing research first. She gently pushed the door open.

She was surprised first by the room's size. It was small, but not much smaller then her room at Kong was. Then her room at Kong had _been_, before it had been torn out of the building by demons. Secondly, it looked surprisingly…nice. The floors were bare hardwood with a small rug near her bed. Several paper lanterns were strung across the ceiling. He'd managed to locate some wooden cabinets with glass doors similar to what she'd had in her old room, and several similar posters and wall-hangings. In one corner next to the closet was her guitar. Inside the closet itself was Shaun Ryder's slumbering head, surrounded by the tubes and machinery keeping him alive. He looked comfortable enough if just the slightest bit cramped inside the small space.

"You might wanna check on 'em," said Murdoc. "I tried to feed 'em once or twice and 'e damn near bit my hand off."

"I will," said Noodle. She looked up at Murdoc and smiled. It didn't reach her eyes. "Thank you, Murdoc. It's a lovely room, and I'm sure you spent a lot of time and money getting it ready for me." She took a steadying breath. "But I can't stay in this room."

Murdoc was taken aback for a moment. He looked around the room quickly and realized his blunder. "Fuck," he groaned. "That's the problem, ain't it? It's _too_ damn similar to your room at Kong the demons destroyed kidnapping you!" His fist collided into the wall, leaving a large dent. "This place would give you fuckin' _nightmares_ if you ever got to sleep at _all_!"

"I'm sorry, Murdoc," Noodle said quietly looking at the floor.

"You're sorry? You're _sorry_?" Murdoc shouted incredulously. "Sorry about what?"

Noodle didn't say anything and refused to meet his gaze.

"What the _fuck_ do _you_ have to be sorry about?" he screamed. Alarmed, Cortex flew off his arm and out of the room. "It's _my_ fault! Every horrible thing that _happened_ to you down there is all my _goddamn_ fault!"

"No, Murdoc. I don't blame you," said Noodle unsteadily. She glanced up at Murdoc's face. He looked more furious then she'd ever seen him before, and he could get incredibly angry when he felt like it.

"Goddamn it Noodle, stop lying," Murdoc fumed. "You're fucking _crap_ at it."

" I am _not_ lying," she said, raising her voice slightly. "I _knew_ the Hellhole was dangerous, and I _knew_ not to trust the demons farther then I could throw them. There were risks involved staying at Kong, I recognized that and I _chose_ to stay there anyway."

"Anyone sane would've turned and ran," Murdoc mumbled.

Noodle crossed her arms and looked up at Murdoc. "Anyone sane does not belong in Gorillaz."

They stared at each other for a minute silently.

Closing his eyes, Murdoc sighed. When he opened them again they appeared calm. Without another word he strode out of the room. Noodle stood in the center of the room until she heard the door to his room close softly. To her it sounded as loud as a gunshot.

She tore down the paper lanterns and hangings, leaving them in a pile in the farthest corner from her bed. She had to try to disguise the room as much as possible, to make it a safe place to sleep. He hands were shaking as she threw a sheet over the cabinets.

'_It will never be safe, nowhere is safe, they'll come and find me and bring me back and it'll be a thousand time worse then before; they'll put me somewhere that no one could ever find me again and torture me until I beg for them to just end it and kill me but even then the torture won't end.'_

She slowly slid down to the floor, her hands covering her face.

'_They'll come for me. They're probably searching Essex right now and they'll find my scent near the hospital and follow it here and I'll be back in Hell before sunrise tomorrow._'

Small tears started to run down her cheeks. _'I can't stand the waiting.'_

***

Murdoc sat on his bed, Cortez hovering near his elbow. His mobile lay on the floor where he'd dropped it after the call.

He'd looked at his phone and seen that the accountant had left him a tense message asking him to call back as soon as possible, and unfortunately Murdoc had nothing better to do at the moment then call back Robert Brown, C.P.A. Maybe some mind-numbing talk about large numbers he couldn't even begin to comprehend would put this little fiasco right out of his head.

Murdoc let loose a string of quiet curses, most of them aimed at Bernard Madoff and his goddamn Ponzi scheme and for letting himself fall for the investment scheme. Over the phone, Robert had sounded upset with himself for not spotting it sooner and preventing a total loss, but from the sounds of it, both him and Murdoc had plenty of company. He had apologized profusely, but Murdoc didn't care about the C.P.A's feelings.

What he did care about was his money, and almost all of his money was gone. Only a few thousand pounds remained. He had suddenly gone from one of England's richest men to barely having enough to squeak by for three months. There might've been more left if he hadn't bought the house, but they had needed somewhere that was not Kong and out of the way to stay and this was as isolated as he could get. Who cared that Noodle, the whole reason he had bought this place, hated the living guts out of her room because he'd made a mistake. He was not going to regret buying this place, he was _not_…

Murdoc ran his fingers through his hair.

"God damn it."

END : part FOUR

MarqueeMoonGirl SEZ: ….It's almost 4 AM. I'll just sum up my thoughts like this. New Gorillaz demos = awesome. Murdoc's shipping forecast = hilarious. This chapter = depressing as hell.


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